The tale of a French king cured by a Turkish delicacy is a delicious piece of folklore, but the true story of yogurt's conquest of Western palates is a richer blend of science, tragedy, and business savvy.
A Mythical Cure for a King
For generations, a charming story circulated about King Francis I of France. Suffering from digestive woes in the 1500s, his ally Suleiman the Magnificent, the Ottoman ruler, supposedly sent a physician with a cure: yogurt made from ewe's milk. The king was healed, and yogurt's place in French cuisine was sealed. However, this appealing narrative is, sadly, a myth. Historians find no evidence of this medical mission, with the story only appearing in popular French articles in the 19th century, long after the king's death.
The Real Spark: Science and Speculation
Yogurt's modern European journey truly began in a Parisian lecture hall in 1904. Élie Metchnikoff, a scientist at the Pasteur Institute and future Nobel laureate, theorized that bacteria producing acids in the gut could combat "intestinal putrefaction," a supposed cause of aging and disease. He pointed to the longevity of Bulgarian peasants, attributing it to their yogurt consumption. The French media seized on this, with headlines like one in Le Temps exhorting readers to eat yogurt to avoid aging and death.
This scientific seed took root. In 1905, Bulgarian microbiologist Stamen Grigorov identified the key bacterium, named Lactobacillus bulgaricus, which remains fundamental to yogurt production today.
From Fire and Flight to a Family Empire
The pivotal link between this scientific curiosity and the supermarket dairy aisle was forged by tragedy and entrepreneurship. In 1917, a devastating fire ravaged Salonica (Thessaloniki), a Greek city with a large, long-established Sephardic Jewish community. Among those who lost everything was Isaac Carasso.
Carasso resettled his family in Barcelona, where a wave of childhood gastrointestinal illness struck. Familiar with yogurt from the Balkan diet, and aware of Metchnikoff's theories, Carasso saw an opportunity. He began producing yogurt at home, packaging it in small ceramic pots and marketing it through pharmacies as a health tonic. He named his product "Danone," the Catalan nickname for his son, Daniel.
The venture was auspicious. Daniel Carasso studied bacteriology at the Pasteur Institute and later expanded the business to France in 1929. When the Nazis occupied France, Daniel fled to the United States, founding a company there and changing the name to "Dannon" for an English-speaking market.
Initial sales in the U.S. were sluggish; Americans found plain yogurt too sour. The breakthrough came when Daniel Carasso introduced strawberry purée into the product. Sweetened fruit yogurt was an instant hit, transforming the company's fortunes.
Through mergers and expansions, the enterprise grew into the Groupe Danone we know today, a multinational food conglomerate. While yogurt remains its flagship, the company now also produces plant-based milks, bottled water, and infant formula.
Modern Claims and Clinical Reality
Danone has continued to market yogurt's health benefits, though the claims have evolved. One of its major products, Activia, once advertised that it was "clinically proven to regulate your digestive system in two weeks." This claim was challenged by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission and led to settled class-action lawsuits, as the evidence did not support such a broad guarantee.
The language was softened to "clinical studies show that..." and today's labels often use more ambiguous phrases like "supports gut health." Research does indicate that specific probiotics in some yogurts can offer modest benefits, like slightly speeding digestion for some individuals with mild constipation, but typically requiring multiple servings daily.
While Metchnikoff's anti-aging assertions were exaggerated, his core idea about yogurt's potential gastrointestinal benefits ignited Isaac Carasso's entrepreneurial vision. That spark, born from a fire in Salonica, ultimately created the world's largest yogurt producer, changing breakfast tables across the globe.
